


Homesick at Space Camp

by tingles22



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Comfort, Family Bonding, Fluff, Happy Ending, Keith Birthday Baby Bang, Keith and Krolia - Freeform, Paladin Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 13:15:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16430081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tingles22/pseuds/tingles22
Summary: After Krolia leaves Earth, Keith finds himself in need of comfort. Instead, Keith finds himself comforting his fellow paladins with their family issues.





	Homesick at Space Camp

**Author's Note:**

> Title: Homesick at Space Camp by Fall Out Boy
> 
> This is my piece for the Keith Birthday Baby Bang! I had such a fun time working on this and am excited to finally post it! Art by @tigerblab7 on twitter and tumblr!!!

It’s no surprise to Keith that Krolia needed to return to space. She and Kolivan had been working hard to reestablish the Blade of Marmora ever since she left Keith for the second time in his life. He knows it’s important, but he can’t help but be upset. 

The two years they spent in the Quantum Abyss were the most content years Keith has ever had. Sure, there were threats and worries, that comes with their line of work, but he was able to connect and bond with his mom. He never thought he would get the chance. 

Keith had been out of the Garrison infirmary for a few weeks when Krolia approached him. The night sky radiated powerfully across the desert, it lit up with stars was much more welcoming than it being lit with explosions. 

“Keith,” Krolia started, “There’s no easy way to say this…” And with that Keith knew exactly what she was saying.

“You have to leave again.” Not a question. He knew.

Krolia gave Keith a sad smile. “I really wish I could stay longer, and this isn’t goodbye. Kolivan and I have a few loose strings to take care of in the Messier 82 galaxy.” 

Keith understands that it’s their line of work, but he wishes that his mother could stay by his side instead of 11.42 million light years from Earth.

“Your father taught me the constellations, you know,” Krolia pointed towards a certain speckling of stars, “I’ll be right there. Ursa Major I think he said?”

Keith smiled, comforted by knowing where his mother will be, even if he cannot see her. “I’m going to miss you, Mom. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Keith.”

\--------

It’s a few days past Krolia’s departure when Keith wandered into the common area. The Garrison had been kind enough to grant the paladins their own wing of the compound, a sort of extended thank you to them.

Keith had planned to quickly grab a snack, a truly Earth snack, when he saw Lance. The typically outgoing, cheerful Lance had a deep frown on his face as he lounged on the couch.

Lance was mindlessly swirling his earbuds around while staring into nothingness. It was not the Lance that Keith knew. 

Keith turned to walk out of the room when Lance spotted him. 

“Oh, hey, Keith,” Lance spoke, obvious that something else was occupying his thoughts. He straightened up and turned to look at Keith.

Keith was faced with a dilemma. Faced with a choice to either continue walking out the door and pretend he did not hear Lance, or turn back around and talk to him. He weighed his options for a moment too long, deciding on the latter. He did really want to get something to eat.

“Hey,” Keith spun around, trying to not look uncomfortable with the situation, “What’s up?”

Lance grumbled something incoherent at Keith before slumping back down.

Keith decided he ought to tread lightly. “Do you want to talk about it?” He forced out, cringing at his awkward tone.

Lance mumbled again, and Keith knew he was in trouble.

Keith suppressed a sigh, and walked to the couch to join Lance. Once he was facing him, Keith began again. 

“Lance, buddy, what’s wrong?” Keith asked, trying to show his compassionate side, or whatever Krolia said he had inherited from his dad.

Lance let out a dramatic sigh, and Keith knew he was in for the long haul. 

“It’s just my sister Veronica. She thinks she’s instructable or something!” Lance proceeded to launch into a rant revolving around his sister, her safety, and the rebels. “Veronica has been hanging around the rebels recently, which is fine by the way Matt is great, but she told his partner that she was thinking of joining! They even gave her their word that she can go on the next off planet mission! Like, excuse me, Veronica! I just got back to Earth, I don’t want you to leave it! I tried talking to her about it but all she said was that ‘it seemed like the right thing for her to be doing’ and then proceeded to yell at me.” 

Keith waited a moment to see if Lance was done before speaking. “Well, what’s the problem with her going?” Keith asked slowly. 

Lance spluttered over his words before responding, “The problem! She’s my sister! She shouldn’t be in those situations!” 

Keith frowned at Lance. “Didn’t she help lead some rebels here on Earth?”

Lance gave him an exasperated sigh. “Yes! But that’s different!” Lance slumped back and crossed his arms.

“Well, maybe you’re worried she’ll get hurt?”

Lance reacted as if Keith had spoken Galran to him. He choked on air and stared at him with wide-eyes. “Keith! Are you crazy? Me? Worried?”

Keith watched, unamused as Lance continued to question everything the Keith stood for. Keith closed his eyes and sat back into the couch and folded his legs up underneath him, simply waiting for Lance to finish freaking out. 

A few minutes passed, and Lance finally began to calm down. Midway through a declaration of Keith’s insanity, he froze. 

Keith popped open an eye, noticing the sudden silence. Lance sat, head in his hands, completely silent. 

Just as Keith wondered when the appropriate time to nudge him, Lance spoke again. “I...I guess I am worried about her. She’s my big sister. I don’t want her to get hurt.”

Sitting still, Keith was surprised he was able to get through to Lance, but even more surprised that he was opening up to him. 

“Listen, Lance,” Keith began without really knowing where he was going, “She’s strong. Shiro told me how great she performed in Atlas. Veronica is an intelligent person, she would know to keep herself safe.”

Lance gave Keith a small smile, “Thanks, man.” Before Keith could process what was happening, he was pulled into a hug.

“Oh!” Keith let out a yelp of surprise before hugging back.

After a few moments of hugging, Lance leaned back. “You really are a great leader, Keith. Thanks for talking to me. I should go talk to Veronica.”

Keith watched as Lance shot up and bounced out of the room. 

He smiled, feeling a sense of warmth fall over him, right up until his stomach growled.

As he finally grabbed a granola bar to eat, Keith is plagued with thoughts about his mother’s safety.

\-------

Around dinner a few days later, Keith found himself wandering back into the kitchen. Curious to see what’s everyone’s dinner plans were, and looking for some company.

Instead, Keith found Hunk baking enough muffins to feed the entire Garrison for months.

The kitchen counters were covered with baking tins, flour, and freshly made muffins. Keith walked past the island towards Hunk, careful not to knock anything over.

“Uh, Hunk,” Keith began as he slowly walked towards his working space, “How’s it going?”

Hunk hummed in response to Keith as he continued to mix the batter. He was covered in flour and milk, focusing hard on his craft. 

“Erm, Hunk? Are you doing okay?” Keith asked again. It’s common knowledge among the paladins that Hunk bakes when he’s stressed. Shivers run down Keith’s spin as he remembers all the sort-of-banana bread loaves they had after Shiro disappeared. 

When Hunk decided that the batter was mixed enough, he looked up at Keith. “Oh, hey. Yeah, I’m fine.”

Keith has been alive long enough to know that when someone says ‘I’m fine’, they typically aren’t. 

“Uh, you sure you don’t have anything you wanna get off your chest?” Keith tried again, putting his hand on Hunk’s shoulder. 

Hunk continued to mix the batter. “Nope, I’m all good, man. Thanks, though.” Keith watched as Hunk’s stirs gradually began to get more and more intense. Minutes passed, but Keith remained silent. 

Finally, Hunk’s stirs began to slow and he let out a noise of discontent. 

“What type of muffins are you making?” Keith asked, trying to distract Hunk from whatever was eating him up. 

“I’m calling them trauma muffins. Not officially, of course.” Ah, yes. 

“What sort of trauma are we talking about here? Emotional? Physical? Metaphoric---” Before Keith could finish, Hunk cut him off.

“I’m making them for all the newly emancipated slaves, I’ll have you know. They were just freed from the Galra, it’s the least I can do.” Hunk spoke roughly and turned away from Keith. Ouch, Keith figures he maybe shouldn’t have tried to joke around.

They sat in an uncomfortable silence filled with only the sounds of Hunk stirring. A few moments passed before Keith had enough. “Listen, sorry. That was a little insensitive of me and I should have thought before---” Hunk cut him off for a second time.

“Yeah, well my parents aren’t doing too great and--” Hunk suddenly stopped, the spatula frozen in mid-air, “That’s besides the point.”

“Hunk…” Keith trailed for a moment, trying to catch Hunk’s gaze. He continued when big, brown eyes locked onto him. “Your parents are amazing, and I’m sure they’ll love that you are doing this for everyone. It’s really thoughtful of you.” Keith gave Hunk a big smile. 

Keith didn’t have a moment to comprehend Hunk’s expression before he was being pulled into a crushing hug.

“Keith, why do you always know the right thing to say to me? You truly are the best,” Hunk spoke directly into Keith’s shoulder, only mumbles making their way to Keith’s ears.

“Oh, sure thing, man.” Keith gave Hunk an awkward pat on the back.

The two stayed embraced until a kitchen timer went off. 

“Ugh, the muffins ruined our bonding moment!” Hunk yelled as he ran towards the oven. “If these suckers aren’t done I swear to Bob!”

All Keith could do was laugh.

Keith stuck around the kitchen to help Hunk bake muffins well into the night. Who needs dinner when you have muffins?

Laughing and baking with Hunk surfaced memories of Keith’s time with his mom in the Quantum Abyss. As much as he loved hanging and cooking with Hunk, Keith couldn’t help but miss doing the same with Krolia.

\---------

The next day, Keith found himself tragically bored. So bored, that nothing seemed enticing.

Playing with Kosmo? Boring after a few minutes.

Screwing with Iverson? Not interesting enough to even try.

Keith was very, very bored. 

That was until Shiro found him, laying on his bedroom floor throwing his knife into the air.

“That’s not the safest thing you could be doing,” Shiro spoke as he opened Keith’s door. “Or the most productive. Wanna spar?”

Keith’s knife clattered to the ground next to him as he violently sat up. “Yes, please. I need to do something. Now.”

Shiro laughed and helped Keith stand. “Well, then I expect a good fight.”

“You’re on!” Keith shouted as he took off down the hall towards the gym.

Shiro fondly shook his head as he took off after him. 

Once the two were in the gym, they immediately dove into sparring. Every hit was blocked, every kick was countered. The two fought in rhythm for nearly twenty minutes before Keith needed a break.

“C’mon, Keith? Tired already?” Shiro laughed as Keith struggled to stay standing.

“Oh, hush it. Staying in that hospital bed for so long really made me lose some strength.” Keith joked back, but suddenly stopped when he noticed Shiro had gone still. “Shiro?”

Shiro sighed and sat down on the mat. “I was really worried, you know. Especially since you were the last to wake. We didn’t know if you were going to make it.”

“Shiro,” Keith joined him on the ground, his muscles sending him a prayer, “I told you to never give up, I would’ve been a hypocrite to not do the same.”

Shiro gave Keith a small smile at that. “I know, I just wish I could have been there for you when you woke up.”

With his eyes closed, Keith considered his response. “Well, I wasn’t fully alone,” Keith gave a shaky sigh before continuing, “Krolia and Kolivan where there.”

“I was.”

Keith leaned forward as his head shot to Shiro. “You where what?”

“Alone,” Shiro looked at the floor. “After Atlas landed, they made me get checked out, too. I was in a much better state then you all, but I guess exhaustion caught up to me after I knew you were safe and I passed out. I woke up to an empty hospital room and I didn’t want the same to happen to you.”

Keith moved closer to Shiro, resting a hand on his shoulder. “I had no idea,” Keith spoke softly.

Glossy eyes connected to Keith’s. “I didn’t want you to know.”

The two sat in silence as Keith wished that Shiro still had family to be there for him. Keith is a huge believer in found family, but in that moment he knew that Shiro yearning for his long gone parents.

“Listen, Shiro. I promise I will always be there for you from now on. You deserve more than an empty room.”

Keith held Shiro in his arms as they cried together. Cried for Shiro’s dead parents and Keith’s dead father. They cried for Krolia, praying she makes it back safely.

\----------

A few days passed, and Keith found himself in the research labs at the Garrison. James Griffin had cornered him that morning requesting his input on the mech that had attacked Earth. Keith wished he had better things to do, but he figured they might want fresh eyes.

He watched as the elevator propelled him deeper and deeper into the Garrison facility. His eyes lit up as he processed all the new areas he had never seen. Keith smiled to himself as he realized all his crazy conspiracies about the place weren’t all that wrong.

“Oh, hello, Keith!” He was greeted by Allura just as he exited the elevator.

“Hey, Allura. What are we looking at?” Keith walled further into the room. He whistled when he got a look at the mech. It may of nearly killed them, but Keith can appreciate a good robot.

Allura pulled up a screen in front of them, and got to explaining. Keith tried to listen, he really did, but he only caught a few words here and there. 

“And the craziest thing is the Altean we found piloting it!” Allura grumbled, and Keith’s attention was immediately brought back.

“An Altean? But Kolivan said the colony was empty?” Keith spluttered over his words, completely shocked.

“Empty to our eyes, maybe. I just really need to get to the bottom of this.” Allura muttered as she continued to work.

Keith watched her as she walked back towards the mech. He continued to watch her as she worked. Allura raced around the mech for the better part of an hour, only occasionally asking Keith’s input. He didn’t care that he wasn’t being utilized for help, he only worried that Allura might be overworking herself.

“How long have you been down here, Allura?” Keith finally asked, drawing her attention. 

“Uh, what day is it?” Allura questioned sheepishly.

Keith gaped at her and hurriedly walked towards her. “Allura,” He spoke and grabbed her shoulders, “You can’t be overexerting yourself like this, it’s not healthy!” 

Allura scoffed at him and shook his arms off of her. “It’s none of your concern, Keith.”

Keith sighed and let his hands fall at his sides. “But it kind of is, Allura. We all care about you and don’t want to see you get hurt.” Keith looked into Allura’s eyes, trying to read her. 

She immediately turned away, willing him to stop trying. Allura walked back to the mech and continued to ignore any of Keith’s worries.

After a while, Keith thought about giving up, but he remembered how he felt when the paladins let him leave for the Blade of Marmora without any signs of being upset. He knew he needed to help her.

“Is this about the missing Alteans?” Keith tried.

Allura’s head shot up from where she was, and turned to Keith. Ah, Keith thought, it is about that.

“I could never imagine what it might have been like losing your people. It’s--it’s unimaginable for me. But I do understand what it means to lose your father. Losing people will never be easy, especially those Alteans in the colony. I only met Romelle, but being there and seeing where Lotor kept them--” Keith let out an involuntary shiver “--it wasn’t right. It won’t ever be right. We just have to hope the rest of them are okay.”

Keith and Allura stood in silence for a few moments. Allura staring at Keith, and Keith offering a sad smile.

Once again, Keith did not see a hug coming. Allura roughly hugged Keith and began to cry into his shoulder.

“Allura,” Keith spoke softly, “The moment we get a lead on those Alteans we are going to march towards them together, alright?”

The only response from Allura was a muffled sob. Keith held her for as long as she needed, and he mentally swore to be here for her whenever she might need him.

After a while, Allura pulled back. “Thank you so much, Keith,” she said as she wiped at her eyes, “It really means a lot.”

Keith smiled, glad to help. 

Keith stayed in the lab for another hour, this time helping Allura with her research. 

\--------

Keith once again was wandering the halls of the Garrison, looking for something to do. He was just released from a meeting, but it seemed like everyone had something they needed to do. 

Suddenly, Pidge ran out of the room behind him, bumping into him.

“Oh, hey Pidge!” Keith said to her fastly disappearing form, “What are you up to? I was thinking--”

“Sorry. I’m busy.” Pidge yelled towards him and continued her retreat down the hall. 

“Oh, okay.” Keith said to no one in particular. Pidge seemed...off and Keith knew she had no plans, they had just talked about it last night.

He continued down the hall, following the sound of Pidge’s retreating footsteps. He finally came to a stop in front of her room.

Keith took a deep breath and knocked. “Hey, Pidge. Are you doing okay?” he asked, getting straight to the point. Over the past few weeks, Keith had found himself being a shoulder to lean on for the paladins. The only person who evaded him over and over has been Pidge.

The only response Keith got was a muffled “Go away!”

Typically, Keith stumbled into the situations all on his own, awkwardly trying to comfort them in the moment, but this time was different.

Matt had cornered Keith the other day after hearing from Veronica how he had comforted Lance.

“Hey, Keith. I have a weird favor to ask of you.” Matt had said, laughing uncomfortably. Turns out, Pidge had been acting weird towards Matt and his partner for a while. “All she does is glare at them! I don’t understand. They did nothing to Pidge!”

So here Keith was, standing outside of Pidge’s room, trying to get her to talk to him. 

“C’mon, Pidge.” Keith tried again. After a few more knocks and no response, Keith sat down resting his back on her door.

Minutes passed before Pidge finally opened her door.

“What do you want?” Pidge said aggressively, swinging open her door. The fast movement startled Keith as he fell backwards into her room. 

From his spot laying on the floor, Keith smiled up at her. “I just wanna hang out,” He offered. 

Pidge scoffed and opened her door further. “You can come in, but I know that Matt sent you.”

“What?” Keith nervously laughed, “He didn’t...”

Pidge looked unamused.

“Fine,” Keith sighed, “He sent me, but we don’t even have to talk about it. We could play your favorite video game” Keith offered, trying to fix the problem before it even began.

“Alright. But promise you won’t try to talk about whatever he wants you to.”

“And what would that be?” Keith laughed, but seeing the joke didn’t land he hurried to correct himself, “Ha, just kidding…”

The pair played video games for hours, and Keith made sure to not bring anything up.

Finally, after beating Keith in their umpteenth match, Pidge snapped. “Ugh, it’s just that they are always taking his attention, and that’s fine! But I miss my brother. We haven’t had anytime to do sibling things like this.”

Keith slowly put down his controller, not too shocked by the outburst. “Well, he said that he doesn’t plan to leave Earth anytime soon, so there isn’t much to worry about. If you want I could talk to Matt about it?” 

Pidge launched herself at him and wrapped her arms around him. “Thanks, Keith, but I think it’s time Matt and I talk and stop using you as our middleman.”

Keith laughed and hugged her back. “Sounds like a good idea, Pidge.”

The two played games deep into the evening, and Keith couldn’t help but think that Krolia would find the game amusing.

\---------

About a week later, Keith found himself walking down a small, dirt path. He had walked down this path almost a month ago with Krolia, bringing her to his father’s grave.

He didn’t set out this morning to visit his dad’s grave, but not everything goes as planned. Keith had walked into the common room earlier that morning, hoping to spend some quality time with his fellow paladins. Instead, he learned that they all had plans with their families. So, reasonably, Keith figured he would spend time with his family. With Krolia off-world, Keith decided to visit his father’s grave.

Keith rested his blanket down in front of the headstone, and began to unpack his picnic. It was cheesy, but Keith didn’t care. He hadn’t gotten many chances to visit his dad before all the Voltron stuff happened, and now he didn’t want to waste anymore time.

Keith set the plate he fixed for his dad down first. A grilled cheese sandwich. His dad was never the best cook ever, but he did make a mean grilled cheese. Keith did his best that morning to recreate a few.

After setting it all up, Keith began to eat his own sandwich, and chat with his dad.

“Hey, dad. I’ve been missing you a lot more lately. Getting to be with mom has made me realize how much I miss you.” 

Of course, there was no response.

Keith then dove into telling his dad about his past few weeks. How family has been on his mind a lot more as he helps his teammates through their family issues.

It was peaceful. 

Time passed slowly, and Keith enjoyed just sitting with his dad. Unfortunately, the time came to an end all too soon. 

His communicator went off in his pocket, and Keith felt sad knowing he had to leave. He placed it in his ear and responded. “Keith, here. What’s up?”

“Keith?” Shiro’s voice crackled through, “Where are you?”

“I’m with my dad.” Keith knew Shiro would understand without him having to go into detail.

“Oh, okay. You’re needed back at base. Iverson didn’t clarify why but he said it was urgent.”

Keith’s mind immediately went to Krolia and her safety. “I’ll be right there.”

He hastily packed up his picnic and ran back to base. 

When he arrived, Keith was greeted with Iverson’s neutral expression. “Sir, what’s going on?”

Iverson gave Keith a small smile. “The mission was a success! The Blades are back. I figured you would like to know.”

Keith barely processed all that Iverson said before he took off running towards the hangar. As he ran, he passed by the rest of the paladins walking there.

“Whoa, Keith, cool your jets!” Lance laughed as Keith pushed past him.

Keith couldn’t be bothered to respond, all he could think about was seeing Krolia. As he threw open the doors to the hangar, he spotted her.

He didn’t care that she was talking with Kolivan, or that he might be overzealous. Keith was ecstatic to see his mother and he didn’t care about anything else. It’s always harder to see her leave more and more. Being able to be with her was something Keith never thought he’d get to do. 

“Keith!” Krolia yelled at him as he ran towards her, unaware of what was coming next. 

Keith launched himself at her, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug. Around him he could hear Lance making a joke, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care.

“Keith?” Krolia questioned, wrapping her arms around him tighter.

He really didn’t mean to cry, but tears escaped him. Thankfully, he had his mom to cry on. “I--” he broke off with a small sob, “I really missed you. I know what you do is important, but everyone was with their families and--”

Krolia cut Keith off, “I know, I know.”

Eventually Keith pulled away from her, rubbing at his eyes, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me. I was visiting dad this morning so--”

She cut him off again. “You don’t need to explain anything to me, Keith. Why don’t we go catch up somewhere, hm?”

Keith smiled at her and nodded. “That sounds like a great idea.” 

“I love you so much, you know that, right?” Krolia spoke softly and she lead Keith and her out of the room.

“I love you, too, mom.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I’m Tingles! Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Feel free to scream with me about voltron on twitter and tumblr @tingles22
> 
> Thanks for reading!!!


End file.
